I first
encountered Galactic Civilizations with the release of Galactic Civilizations
II: Dark Avatar expansion. I’m normally not a big fan of space games, preferring
fantasy themes, but this game really captured my attention. I especially enjoyed
collecting all the cool junk lying around the galaxy. The game was very
attractive visually; deep space had never looked so good. The only negative
feature was the lack of direction on what to do on each turn. However, I found a
good online tutorial that presented an outline of a “First Turn.”
The preview
version of the expansion pack Twilight of the Arnor
was also great fun to play. Some of the now-present features weren’t available,
but there was still a lot of new content and I again enjoyed myself thoroughly.
My preview version didn’t have the campaign mode, but did have the regular game
mode.
Twilight of
the Arnor is advertised to be the last expansion and
to wrap up the Dread Lords saga in the campaign mode. This campaign mode begins
with the return of a Terran ship from a tour of
duty, whose captain is dismayed to discover all the horrific happenings of the
last couple of years with the Drengin and
Korath wars of dominance. Think Star Trek meets
Battlestar Galactic. The campaign scenarios are
unique from each other and require different types of strategic planning. There
are tutorials for beginning players, with one entitled “First Turn,” which I
found very helpful and informative (Thanks, Stardock!).
The main new
feature of Twilight of the Arnor is the
restructuring of the technical trees. Each of the 12 tech trees is now unique
and offers different research paths for each race. The
Drengin have techs that emphasize research through various levels of
agony, and also have a tech path that ends with the ability to design artificial
slaves. The Terrans have majesty and cultural
domination. Some of the races have high morale enhancers, while others can
upgrade their military quickly. Even the seemingly similar techs have subtle
differences in application and the manner in which they are organized on the
tech map for each race.
The technical
trees are redesigned in a more logical manner and offer much more information to
players than in previous games. There are icons of relevant attributes on the
tech plate itself. There are pop-ups of the forthcoming techs when players pass
the cursor over the techs, and right-clicking the mouse will offer up a list of
improvements that will be unlocked with the tech. Besides the new tech trees,
there are more improvements available for the planets, more ships and more
differentiation with the ships. This, too, adds to the complexity of the game’s
strategy. Some of the ships have animated moving parts, which I don’t remember
from either Dark Avatar or the preview version of Twilight of the
Arnor.
Player
customization is always a large part of Galactic Civilization, and now there are
even more ways for players to tweak the gameplay. New editors allow for
customization of the technical trees, scenarios, improvements and more, for a
total of six editors. Players can access these new features by choosing to
design a new race when beginning a new game in the sandbox mode. There are more
options for designing ships, which will please many. For the lazy/don’t care
among us, there are also automated ship-building and improvement options.
Another
improved aspect is the streamlined economic information menus. Pertinent
economic information is displayed in a logical manner that is more cohesive than
previously. However, I’m still a little confused about the planetary improvement
contributions, but that is probably because of user obtuseness.
Galactic
Civilization games are enjoyable because players like me can play as slowly as
they want, concentrate on other things besides war, and collect all kinds of
freebies around the galaxies. But, if they choose, they can spend all their
gaming sessions fighting all their neighbors. The genius of Galactic
Civilization II is the sheer amount of individual customization available for
every type of player. Each game can be setup as to size, the amount of goodies
available for picking through while traveling around the universe, the types of
random events, the number of opponents, numerous difficulty levels, the races of
opponents, and the victory conditions. I am by no means a strategy game guru,
and prefer easier game sessions over the insanely difficult ones. I also don’t
like constant fighting (except for turn-based battles in Heroes of Might and
Magic). The beauty of Galactic Civilization is that I can have just as much fun
playing as the gamers who grew up playing obscure European war board games and
e-mail games, moved on to Master of Orion on the PC, then settled down with
Dominion.
So, what does
this expansion add to the overall game? Well, it improves the original so much
that once played, you can’t go back. For me, the biggest improvements are the
streamlined menus with better organized information and the new tutorials. The
new and unique tech trees are great additions, but the improved game interface
is what I love. The new graphics are also pretty neat, especially the ships and
the planets. The love and dedication from the folks at
Stardock really shows in their attention to fan requests. I absolutely
recommend this expansion for owners of Galactic Civilization II and the previous
expansion, Dark Avatar. If readers don’t own it, buy the whole shebang. It’s
worth the money.
|
|
Gameplay: 9.0
The
improved interface definitely makes the gameplay
enjoyable. All the deep strategy in the world isn’t any good if players can’t
access or understand it. As it stands, this game offers such an enormous amount
of design and gameplay choices, along with a complex
strategy, it is a guarantee that players will spend months on this game. This
expansion is more than a usual expansion. It changes the game, yet doesn’t
change the game.
Graphics: 8.0
The
graphics are much improved, although they still aren’t perfect. The galaxies are
still as beautiful as ever.
Sound: 8.0
The
music is suitable in theme and tempo.
Difficulty:
Hard
Even on the easiest
settings, the learning curve is steep. The excellent tutorials help, though.
Concept: 9.0
The
presentation of new features is superb.
Overall: 9.0
This
game just became elevated to my personal list of all-time PC favorites: HOMM II,
Caesar III, King’s Quest 6, Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island III, Quest for
Glory IV, Civilization IV and now, Galactic Civilization II. I never thought I
would enjoy a space game as well. It’s almost like playing HOMM in space. This
game is probably not as well-known or advertised as some games, which is a
shame, as it is a must-have game for any fan of turn-based strategy games. Oh, I
also enjoyed the Reviewer’s Guide, which was written by Brad
Wardell. Great reading! Missed
the recipes, though.
